Okay, here's the latest stats on the Japanese gaming market. For the week ending 1 April 2007, the stats didn't really show significant changes. Nintendo still leads the hardware sales with a total of 16,073,997 units sold and dominating 38.4 percent of the console market. The Wii, still from Nintendo, comes next at a sales figure of 2,052,397 units while composing 24.2 percent of the market.

Next in the console sales count are PSP, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, GBA and Gamecube composing 19 percent, 8.1 percent, 8 percent, 1.5 percent, 0.6 and 0.1 percent respectively.

When it comes to software sales, meanwhile, DS software sold the most, representing 51.7 percent software sales. The rest of the software sales stats are as follows:

• PS2: 33 percent
• Wii: 8.8 percent
• PSP: 3.3 percent
• PS3: 2.8 percent
• Xbox 360: 0.4 percent

We might say that the changes occurred in the game title sales count. The top 10 games sold in Japan for the week ending April 1 are as follows:

1. Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix by Square Enix (PS2)
2. Musou Orochi by Koei (PS2)
3. Digimon Story Sunburst / Moonlight by Bandai (DS)
4. More English Training for Adults by Nintendo (DS)
5. World Puzzle Mojipittan DS by Namco (DS)
6. Pro Baseball Spirits 4 by Konami (PS2)
   
7. Yoshi Island DS by Nintendo (DS)
   
8. Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village by Level 5 (DS)
   
9. Tamagotchi Splendid Rainbow Venture by Bandai (DS)
   
10. Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd by Capcom (PSP)
    

It comes out as no surprise sometimes when two great firms partner with each other. MCV is a respected trade magazine in the UK that focuses on the video gaming industry. Famitsu is the most widely respected video game news magazine in Japan. Recently, the two establishments announced that they will continue corresponding with each other in securing video games data.

MCV managing editor Lisa Foster said that they are delighted to able able to continue their mutually beneficial association with Famitsu. Famitsu will continue to provide MCV with authoritative marketing data as well as industry leading analysis and news. MCV in return will supply Famitsu with the latest trends, data and stories from the European market.

Ricky Tanimoto of Famitsu says that they are honored to be able to use MCV's content in their publications and online product. He further elaborates that their knowledge of games marketing in Europe has been enriched in the last two years, as attention towards the emerging European game market, especially in the UK, has continued to increase in Japan.

We're glad for this announcement. Both publications, like we said, are quite known in their fields and it's always nice to have a collaboration.

Indie developers will be happy to hear that Simply Gaming PR is back. Founder Joseph Helm says that there are just tons of kick-ass indie games out there and they'd like to do their part to help these indie developers to get the word out about them. They just put up a website and any indie games maker could gain exposure from Simply Gaming for free.

Joseph Helm elaborates that he's had great opportunity to work with Jay Moore and Benjamin Bradley at GarageGames. Helping out at the 2005 Garage Games">Garage Games booth also helped Joseph gain new insight. Indie developers are welcome to contact Simply Gaming PR and Joseph Helm.  Here are some of the services that Simply Gaming can offer to independent developers:

• PR and marketing - including regular press releases and media sent out to gaming journalists, banner on front page of Simply Gaming PR, arranging previews / reviews in magazines and websites, adding the game vid to download sites
• Banner Exchange Program - in return for showing other banners on your site, earn the right to show banners on another site in exchange
• Web hosting - provides free website hosting on Simply Gaming's US based CPanel server; just provide your domain name
  

Rumor has it that Sony is set to make more gaming phones through the Sony Ericsson line. But don't get too excited just yet, it's just talk (for now at least), what with all the success of the Playstation Portable and all...

Come to think of it, such a move will be very logical for the electronics giant Sony. The PSP is considered a success, and there has been a measured increase in support of the mobile gaming platform. Already, Sony's Cybershot and Walkman phones pack a lot of media features, boasting of a PSP-like interface. The next big move might be an all-out PSP phone.

Some very excited sources say that after the Cybershot and the Walkman phone, which do take after Sony's great ideas, a PSP phone will come out eventually - sort of like being part of the line. People wonder, though if a gaming mobile unit is ever going to take off or not, like the not-so-successful Nokia N-gage. Then again, if this comes out, it'll be a PSP - and a phone!

1UP chatted with AM3 chief game design manager Kenji Kanno, one of the Sega folks behind the original Crazy Taxi series. Believe us, the guy isn't crazy like the taxis in Crazy Taxis - or maybe he is ... crazy about the band The Offspring, that is, of which he is a fan. Here's what Kenji-san thinks of the Crazy Taxi series as it stands today.

Crazy Taxi on the PSP is not Kenji's focus, but he gave a lot of design advice to Sega of America who lead the project. He says that the whole point of the game is to have fun in a short period of time.

This is exactly what they did in the series. They took the game core and put it to different places - San Francisco taxi style, or New York, for example - to see how it works. Instead of "evolving" the series, they took the core and did different things with it.

Kenji does not have any platform faves for Crazy Taxi. Actually, he likes them all, saying that the gameplay of the game should make the player forget the platform they're playing on and get sucked into the core of the game.

Asked about putting more user-generated content on Crazy Taxi, specifically courses, Kenji says that he's really not thinking about that. It's an area of pride for him, where he could show the gamer his experience. He could see doing customizable characters, though. Kenji thinks that less user-generated content is being made by the Japanese developers because that's how it is in Japan. People tend to go out, unlike in the West, where people tend to stay home, birthing need for user created experimentation.

Sega's Crazy Taxi comes out in the U.S. this June. Trivia: having a game developer fan is cool. The Offspring vocalist Dexter received a free Dreamcast from Kenji when the band went to Japan. Interesting, ain't it?

When you go home from a long, bad day at work or school all you want to do is to plunk down on a comfy couch and beat the hell out of people, man to man, skin against skin, all sweaty and raw in video game wrestling. THQ and JAKKS Pacific, Inc. understand your need and only yesterday announced that they'll be bringing WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 for multiple gaming platforms.

Yes, sirree, the WWE Smackdown vs. Raw franchise will be debuting on the Wii, the DS and the PS2 consoles, as well as being developed for the Xbox 360, PS3, and the PSP. This marks the WWE franchise's largest cross-platform market launch. Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 comes out fall.

What to expect from this 2008 version of the market-leading wrestling franchise? There's a debut of Superstar Fighting Styles, featuring eight unique styles, each having its own strategy and exclusive attributes. There's a new Struggle Submission System that will make use of the game's analog controls. You may now control the amount of pressure you apply to your opponents.

In addition to the above-mentioned gameplay details, the game also features a significant Extreme Championship Wrestling presences, with a variety of Superstars, arenas and weapons. There are new rosters, more environmental hotspots, a combined Season and General Manager mode, improved out-of-ring action, enhanced online community support - what more could you ask for?

Odds are, you wrestling fans can't wait to get your hands on this game, so we're bringing you some screenshots in the meantime.

See more screenshots after the jump!

March 19th to 25th of 2007 still faced dominant sales of the Nintendo consoles in Japan. The Nintendo DS lite reports 130,549 units sold, followed by motion-sensing console Wii with 75,571 units. The Sony consoles follow next to the Ninty products. Sony's portable reports 41,546 PSPs bought by our Nihongo buddies, Playstation 3 comes next with 20,459 units sold and lastly, the PS2 still selling at 16,961.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 reports a sales figure 0f 3,492 units sold for the week of March 19 to 15. Game Boy Micro reports 765 units sold and the Game Boy Advanced SP, with 607 units. We think: is the world turning into 3 major regions, Japan the Ninty country, Europe the PS3 grounds and the US as the official Xbox area?

There's an international gaming expo currently being held in Perth, Australia: the GO3 Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's basically a gathering of video gaming enthusiasts to share their views on the industry and to partake on the latest buzz about the gaming community. Conference topics include problems facing the gaming industry, the future direction of the industry, latest technologies, licensing, publishing, game development and mobile gaming.

So far we've been able to hear word from the talk of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, creator of funky puzzle video game Lumines. Entitled "Inspiration led Creativity", Mizuguchi's speech centered on how certain moments of his life inspired creativity in him.

Mizuguchi talks of playing Pong as a kid, and listening to Beatles music on the background. According to him, "Pong was good - but with the music, it was awesome." We agree: certain sorts of music do get our groove on playing and winning games, right?

Apart from playing Pong and listening to certain Liverpool bands, Tetsuya talks of his childhood playing Sega, Hang-on, Stomp, Space Channel 5. All in all, he expresses his feelings of being inspired to creativity by music, and the creativity of others - of course, he worded his sentiments better than we could.

Now of this talk of "sponge" - well, Tetsuya says that "sponge" is his final inspiration; it's where the future lies. If he meant being sensitive to the innate creativity and poetry of ordinary everyday things around us, just like how a sponge is so absorbing, then we cheer him on.

We all know how Electronic Arts (EA) has been instrumental in breaking in new artists. This time around, the games giant will be able to grow the artists they introduce, with the help of its newly formed music company: Artwerk.

You're right, the weird spelling means that Artwerk is connected to another company with an oddly spelt name. As a matter of fact, Artwerk is a joint-venture project of EA and Nettwerk. The new music label will combine Nettwerk's management, publishing and digital delivery expertise with the global marketing power of EA’s hit games.

Los Angeles based Artwerk will actively pursue talent in all parts of the world. The music label will sign and develop both new and established artists for publishing, master recording and sync deals, as well as for digital and physical distribution. Artwerk has just signed producer artist Junkie XL, and is also negotiating with several other cutting-edge acts that could benefit from the new label.

Junkie XL, responsible for the tracks that appeared on the hit games Madden NFL 07 and Need for Speed Carbon, said about signing with Artwerk:

Both EA and Nettwerk are artist friendly, progressive thinking companies who embrace and don't fear the future. I feel understood as an artist and at ease with the people from both companies, which is most important to me. I can’t wait to release my new music through Artwerk.

Playlogic Entertainment Inc. has a new International Sales Director: Pierre Thiercelin, a games industialist with over 8 years of experience in European and UK sales working for such publishers as Novalogic, Ignition and Midway.

Playlogic VP Stefan Layer speaks of Thiercelin's appoinment thus;

We are glad to welcome Pierre in our team in Amsterdam and we are looking forward to working with him. His presence will help strengthen our relationships with distribution partners, especially with regards to our forthcoming line-up.

We know Playlogic as an independent publisher of entertainment software for consoles, PCs, handhelds, mobile devices, and other digital media. The company distributes products worldwide through online and offline channels. So far, it's produced the following titles; Infernal, Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, World Racing 2, Knights of the Temple 2 and Gene Troopers.

Pierre Thiercelin sounds excited about working for Playlogic, saying that he is delighted to join Playlogic, especially since their upcoming line-up promises quality, quantity and variety. He will be handling the extension of Playlogic's sales activities towards local distribution partners.